Hi Dylan. I thought you might be interested to know that the Italian prisoners of war (indeed any British prisoners of war, were allowed to work if they requested it, and were only allowed to work if they were listed as good conduct prisoners. POW's often asked to work as i. it helped with the boredom, ii.they got pay on top of their allowance (if they were involved in construction they were paid the current recognized union rates of pay for the job) and, iii. also received extra food rations above their normal food ration. The normal food ration for prisoners in British captivity was the same as for the British servicemen guarding them. They were not compelled to work against their will. In fact nationally more wished to work than were allowed to work. This is because of British workers concerns that they would take British jobs (does nothing change). The government had to assure the unions that prisoner of war labour would only be used when there was a shortage of British workers. Prisoners of war were categorized into three groups, white, grey or black depending on how closely they were assessed as being committed to Nazi ideology. Only white and some grey category POW's were allowed to work if they wished. Of the hundreds of thousands of Italian and German POW's in Britain and dispersed around the Empire 98.6% returned home well and safe. So the Italians made a wise choice to surrender trusting in the British sense of fair play.
Your visit to Wick is one of my favorites. I have a friend moving to Bettyhill so perhaps I'll see that area someday. (Thank you for the lovely card; we are framing it.)
I think one of the tunes played as you left Wick was "out on the ocean", so you chose carefully!
Thanks Dylan, very enjoyable!
Hi Dylan. I thought you might be interested to know that the Italian prisoners of war (indeed any British prisoners of war, were allowed to work if they requested it, and were only allowed to work if they were listed as good conduct prisoners.
POW's often asked to work as i. it helped with the boredom, ii.they got pay on top of their allowance (if they were involved in construction they were paid the current recognized union rates of pay for the job) and, iii. also received extra food rations above their normal food ration. The normal food ration for prisoners in British captivity was the same as for the British servicemen guarding them.
They were not compelled to work against their will. In fact nationally more wished to work than were allowed to work. This is because of British workers concerns that they would take British jobs (does nothing change). The government had to assure the unions that prisoner of war labour would only be used when there was a shortage of British workers.
Prisoners of war were categorized into three groups, white, grey or black depending on how closely they were assessed as being committed to Nazi ideology. Only white and some grey category POW's were allowed to work if they wished.
Of the hundreds of thousands of Italian and German POW's in Britain and dispersed around the Empire 98.6% returned home well and safe. So the Italians made a wise choice to surrender trusting in the British sense of fair play.
Your visit to Wick is one of my favorites. I have a friend moving to Bettyhill so perhaps I'll see that area someday.
(Thank you for the lovely card; we are framing it.)
@ 5:55 on wow, a Sailor rt144c... I used to repair them long long ago...
brilliant
Jake's duct-tape bag... lol